


we're all alright

by izzetboilerworks



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Fake Dating, M/M, alluded homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 20:26:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17710988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzetboilerworks/pseuds/izzetboilerworks
Summary: It's not alright.Livan stares down at the glaring text on his cell phone screen and brings his teeth together.





	we're all alright

**Author's Note:**

> title is from cheap trick's cover of "in the street"
> 
> beta'd by [outruntheavalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche)

It's not alright. 

Livan stares down at the glaring text on his cell phone screen and brings his teeth together. Something churns unpleasantly in the pit of his stomach. . He’d always suspected that this would probably come to bite him in the ass, but he didn’t think it’d be this soon. He closes the message and covers his face with his hands. 

He wishes he knew how to get ahead of the curve on this. Livan thinks about messaging Oscar, or maybe Al. He doesn’t know what he’d even say. 

Maybe he could just ignore it and it’d all go away. Livan thinks that maybe that’s the way he’ll go and it should be fine. 

*

 

“You look stressed.” 

Livan stares at Mike for a moment and shakes his head. He closes the message hehe can’t stop staring at and looks up at Mike. 

“I’m fine.” 

He’s not fine though and he’s sure that Mike doesn’t believe him. Which is also fine, but it isn’t like he’s going to spill everything to him because he has no one else to talk to. 

Mike raises a brow at him and then squints, suspiciously, before going on his way. 

*

 

“My ex-boyfriend is gonna out me, he says, if I don’t take him back.” Livan says this apropos of nothing, to Mike, while they’re alone in an elevator at a hotel in Cleveland. Mike frowns. 

“Is that what’s been bothering you?” 

“Yeah.” Livan shifts nervously, then quiets when the door opens. An old lady with curly white hair gets on with them and Livan thinks he could cut the tension with a knife. He can’t tell, from Mike’s reaction, how he feels about Livan coming out to him. In fact, he can’t read Mike’s face at all. 

He’s nervous, heart thumping like a jackhammer, and wishing he could do anything to make the tension bleed out just a little. 

“We obviously have to get ahead of that.” Mike says, once they’re alone – relatively alone– again, standing on the street waiting for an Uber. Mike signs an autograph to a wide-eyed little kid and his starstruck mother and Livan politely doesn’t say anything when she slips her number to Mike. 

“How?” Livan asks. 

“Don’t let him break the news, do it yourself. Pretend to be dating someone. Or, if you’re really dating someone...” 

Livan shakes his head. He doesn’t think he could just _ask_ someone to pretend to be his boyfriend, just for the sake of it. And who could he even ask?

“I can’t just _ask_ someone to do that.” 

“Why not?” 

“Ain’t no one I know who’d be comfortable.” 

“I’ll do it.” 

Livan presses his mouth into a flat line as he weighs the pros and cons. 

“Why?” 

Mike shrugs. 

“That’s what captains do, they stick their neck out for their team. Someday, you’ll get that.” 

Thankfully, their Uber arrives, and Livan doesn’t have to listen to Mike give a speech on team loyalty or a captain’s role on the team. 

*

Before they do anything, Livan has to tell Al and Oscar, and Charlie too. Which– Livan isn’t looking forward to it. He presents his cell phone with the offending text message on it, and also of Mike’s plan to get ahead of it, before it becomes something of a scandal. Of course, they’re rather used to that by now. 

He can tell that Charlie is irritated, but he must be used to it by this time. After all, he's had to weather that with Ginny's nudes almost being leaked. He's sure it won't be the last time that something ridiculous or incriminating comes up about someone, and he has to weather that storm. 

 

In a month or two, maybe this would even blow over. 

*

 

Livan comes out as quietly as he can, enough that fans _know_ and his shitty ex can’t use that as a way to manipulate him. But Livan is more– surprised that Mike has no problem with being “outed” too. As bisexual, he guesses, considering the whole thing where he dated GInny’s agent and also was married to that sports journalist. 

 

The Instagram post is a mess, and it’s hurtful too, maybe in a way that’s objectively worse than the manipulation would have been. The picture is simple, and Livan had Ginny take it for them,. They're in the dugout holding hands, back at Petco and Livan had posted a caption. 

“Love is love! ❤  
_¡el amor es el amor!_ ❤” 

But the comments are brutal, people saying the worst things about him. And his relationship. There’s positive comments too, but those seem few and far between.

*

 

They keep up a facade. Livan doesn't know how long they'll have to keep it up. Maybe until enough people know, or something. Maybe they don't have to keep it up at all, and realistically, he should tell Mike it was fun while it lasted. 

 

Or maybe they have to sell it. So some nights, Mike sleeps over, sleeping on the couch and Livan lies awake in the next room trying to suss out if sense of duty is the only reason why Mike is doing this. (Realistically, Livan knows it is, and wishes it wasn't but it's not like he has some crush on Mike like Ginny did.) 

 

Livan listens to Mike shift on the couch and wonders if he should offer him the bed. 

 

He wonders if Mike lays awake thinking about why he agreed to do this too.

 

*

 

The Padres miss the playoffs. It's the beginning of October and Livan thinks about going home, but he doesn't think his family will accept him. And he thinks about how Mike is probably going to go galavant. 

 

All of this will leave his mind as he suns on a beach in sunny wherever, and Livan will try and figure out where he's going. 

 

Livan tries to go about like the day's not different, like this is normal. Mike will leave and the apartment will be empty and everything will wheel on -- end up right where they were before, but Livan won't have to deal with a manipulative, jealous ex. 

 

Mike stands in front of him and this is goodbye. 

 

"Please don't punch me, my face is my best quality." Mike's tone is deadpan and Livan doesn't have a chance to question it before Mike's beard scratches at his face and his soft lips press against Livan's. 

 

*

 

They're still together on opening day and they sign autographs, shoulder to shoulder, and one of the local Pride chapters ask them to pose with their rainbow flag for their Facebook page. Someone takes the picture and Mike kisses him on the cheek. 

 

It's all alright.


End file.
